Rich Agrees with Tarik Skubal: Don’t Blame the Dodgers for Gaming MLB’s Current System

Tarik Skubal has been a Dodger for about five minutes and he is already defending the organization, which Rich found both funny and completely correct.

"Every team could trade for me," Skubal said. "Every team could make that acquisition. I don't really sympathize with people that blame the Dodgers for anything they've done. They've developed a really good organization. They draft well. They acquire talent really well. They retain talent."

Then he made the observation that actually stings.

"Now the complaints seem to be because they've won the last two World Series," Skubal said. "I don't think it was like that three years ago."

Rich's verdict was short. "I don't think he said one thing that was inaccurate."

The reason this holds up is the answer Jeff Passan gave on the show, which took away the easiest complaint. Rich had wanted to know whether money decided it. Did Los Angeles agree to eat the entire remaining salary while Tampa offered 80 percent and Milwaukee 70?

No. According to Passan it was not a money thing at all. The money was apples to apples across every bidder. Everybody was going to find it in the couch cushions.

What separated the Dodgers was the three prospects Detroit liked best.

"So, how you going to blame the Dodgers for that?" Rich asked. The Tigers looked at what Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Tampa were offering and preferred what Los Angeles had. That is a farm system doing its job.

Skubal's framing of it landed somewhere between honest and Hyman Roth. This is the business we've chosen. If you choose not to do business the way the Dodgers do, that is on you.

None of which means the playing field is level, and Rich was careful not to pretend otherwise. Not everybody has the local television contract, or Chavez Ravine, or enough money in the till to look at a payroll north of 320 million, then a 163 million dollar tax on top of it, then roughly 1.1 billion committed to nine players stretching from 2028 to 2046, and say sure.

Passan's line was that the money papers over their mistakes. Rich would add that so does the lineup.

He keeps coming back to one sequence from last year's playoffs. Ohtani on second, Betts on first, Freeman doubles, and all three are running at once, Freeman into second, Betts first to third, Ohtani all the way home. One continuous rotation of the most expensive pond in sports.

The Dodgers put their pants on one leg at a time like everybody else. Then they take gold-plated at-bats.

Which is what the money is for, and why players keep choosing to go there. The organization takes care of them, and it keeps replanting the farm system so it can do this again next time somebody good becomes available.

The Mets are the control group Rich keeps pointing at, to T.J.'s ongoing irritation. New York has the money now, more than the Yankees do in relative terms, and it has not produced the same thing. Highest payroll in baseball, and Rich noted they do not have Dave Roberts, do not have Andrew Friedman, do not have the same farm system or front office. Same bank account, different results.

Chris offered the comparison that fit best. The Patriots during their run treated the line as something to stand on rather than five feet behind. Still legal, still fine.

The football version happening right now, everyone agreed, is the Rams, stacking Myles Garrett on top of everything else and getting Aaron Donald talking about running it back.

The lockout is still coming. Passan has the dates, with December 1 the start and February the hope, and significant games at risk if it drags.

But blaming Los Angeles for this particular trade does not survive contact with the details. It was apples to apples on money, and the question was who had the better package. Nobody did.